According to Goodwin, music videos should posses six basic qualities that will define them as 'good' videos.
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (eg. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).
2. There is relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
3.There is relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur against their work (a visual style).
5. There infrequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens , telescopes, etc ) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programs, other music videos etc).
This music video below is a good example of most of the characteristics that Goodwin proposed should be featured in music video:
The genre of the song is Pop, and there are clear conventions that the genre is associated with. For example most pop songs are upbeat, fun, and appeal to the mainstream audiences, music videos for pop songs need to imitate the genre visually, this means that pop-y music videos are usually fun and match the pace of the song, they tend to not have any message behind them (eg. no political or social issues adressed in the video). Pop music videos tend to have some kind of a narrative that is interlaced with a performance or a dance routine and a lot of the time the visuals match the song.
Hot bodies,
cool dance moves, constant
scene changes to hold the eye, and style are also generally associated with the pop genre. This music video covers a lot of the things that are mentioned above, for example the fact that the narrative is woven between constant scene changes and the performance on stage and also in the recording studio:
The music video starts with the beginning of the performance. We see the artist coming on stage and performing.
The video is the broken up by the use of narrative, its a classic story of adultery, where the artist is the victim that has been cheated on.
The video is then broken up again by the use of different locations, such as this one (a recording studio) This ensures that the video is not boring, and the audience get a sense of the artists style and identity.
Another way that Goodwin's theory can be applied to this music video is that Goodwin states the importance of a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, and the relationship between the music and visuals, this video covers those two points. The lyrics of the song tell us a story of heartbreak and deceit:
Am I confused, am I a crazy person
You say it's old news
She doesn't mean nothing
But don't you understand that I am heartbroken
No matter what you do
You just can't make it untrue
You're breathing lies
I want to believe in
When I'm watching walk out the door
I could fall through the floor
The narrative matches the lyrical content to an extent, the story shows the main star looking through what is presumably her boyfriends phone while he is sleeping, even thought it it not spelled out for the viewers, the viewers can pick up on the little hints from the song and visuals draw a conclusion about what is happening (he cheated on her and she is not happy).
There is also a relationship between the music and the visuals, the visuals amplify the music and make it more interesting.
Goodwin also stated that a music video will be expected to feature a lot of close ups of the artist to familiarize and to create a relationship between the viewer and the performer. This is very important for record labels as they depend on the music videos to introduce the artist to the public and gain an audience. This music video features a lot of close-ups, below is a collage I made of some of the close-ups from the video:
Another point of Goodwin's that can be applied to this music video is the notion of voyeurism.Theses gifs below show fragments from the video that have a voyeuristic feel to them. The viewers are watching the artist in an intimate setting, her bathroom in her nighty and then in her closet,this sequence feels very private because she is not looking directly at the camera (only in close ups when she is singing but even then its just a glance) and the framing looks as if the camera was hidden and that she doesn't know its there, its the notion of the male gaze. The viewer (especially male) might get pleasure from seeing the artist like this and therefore like her more.
Another idea of Goodwin's is that some music videos feature intertextuality.
This music video doesn't really use intertextuality.
Ace Norton is a music video and commercial director. Norton's body of work includes music videos for artists such as Jenifer Lopez, The Virgins, Foster the People, Death Cab for Cutie, Regina Spektor, Scissor Sisters and The Fray, as well as promotional campaigns for Honda Element, coca cola, and McDonalds.
